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Designing Your Salt-Water System

Now that you have decided to create a saltwater tank system you first have to decide on what type of system best suits your needs. What type of livestock do you plan on keeping? You will need to take into account the temperament of the livestock that you choose. Are they aggressive or are they social animals? The goal here is to create an environment where the inhabitants can peacefully co-exist.

You have the option of creating two types of systems, a fish only system or reef tank system.

Fish Only System: A fish only system basically consists of fish and not much else. You may include some dead coral living rock, inorganic rocks, imitation coral and seashells to dress it up a bit.

The basic fish-only aquarium set-up usually consists of the tank, filter and lighting. This type of tank contains fish with possibly a little live rock, but no living corals or other invertebrates.

The pros of this type of system include:
They are the simplest type of salt water tank to set up, they cost less in set up and maintenance costs and may require less stringent filtration

The cons of this type of system include:
The potential to overstock the tank with fish thereby over crowding the fish and causing metabolite pollution and wipeout. Other cons include that you can't keep corals, which are often very pretty and provide a focal point of interest in the tank.

Reef Tank System: A reef tank consists of fish, corals, invertebrates and other organisms that live in a carefully balanced environment. For example, fish are selected for compatibility not just with each other, but with corals and invertebrates as well (i.e., fish are chosen that will not eat other desirable organisms in the tank). Reef aquariums are not for everyone; they are expensive to set up, furnish, populate and maintain. They are the most time-consuming, type marine systems you can have.

The pros of owning a reef system include:
Easier to maintain optimum and consistent water quality. They require only a few steadfast rules regarding lighting, filtration-results, and set-up. A reef system is also very beautiful, more interesting and challenging.

The cons of this type of system include:
The fact that they are that it is more expensive, more time consuming to set-up and potentially maintain.